Leadership is the key theme of the opening pair of
papers in this issue, and I am delighted that we are carrying, back to
back as it were, papers by Rich Rollinson, the Director of the Mulberry
Bush School for ten years from 1991 – 2001, and by John Diamond, Rich’s
successor. These two papers give what I believe to be a unique insight
into that most defining period in the life of any community, the change
of leadership. I am not aware of any other occasion when this changeover
has been so fully documented and reflected upon through the publication,
as here, of a pair of papers by the outgoing and incoming leaders. These
papers were originally written for different audiences and with
different purposes, and they are both written in different personal
styles. Rich’s paper was commissioned for the new volume in the Jessica
Kingsley TCs series, Therapeutic Communities for Children and Young
People (Ward et al, 2003), whereas John’s was given as a lecture
at the Windsor Conference in 2002. It was always my hope that we could
bring the two papers together, however, and this issue has created the
opportunity to do so.
As Rich’s paper conveys, he had been intimately involved
in the life of the Mulberry Bush for many years even before he took on
the Directorship. He faced considerable challenges when he originally
took on the role, as the School was in need of renewal and revival after
a time of real uncertainty. Rich’s paper traces his personal and
professional path through the subsequent challenges and changes
throughout his period of leadership. It is a highly personal account
which nevertheless draws out a number of essential ‘themes and issues’,
and it thus demonstrates exactly what is required of a leader in such a
setting - the ability and willingness to draw constructively and
thoughtfully upon these personal and professional demands, to separate
out the various levels of transference, counter-transference and
projective identification which will operate throughout the place, and
yet to remain both authentic and authoritative. This is what Rich means
by the need to ‘hold the line’.
By the time an established and respected leader is ready
to step down it will at first seem as impossible that the place will
manage without them as it probably did when they originally took up
post. The history of TCs is not encouraging in this respect -we all know
of communities which have been built up around the egos of charismatic
leaders who have then been unable to move on without the place crumbling
or at least stumbling. Some such communities never fully recover from
the departure of their founding parent, while others do eventually
manage to make the transition - sometimes to the great cost of an
interim leader or of other senior staff. As a previous editor of this
journal wrote elsewhere, ‘Therapeutic communities seem to be especially
favourable soil for the blooming of charisma (. . .) But more
therapeutic benefit would come from a fully conscious and verbal
understanding of the dramatization to be dealt with’ (Hinshelwood, 1987,
226).
It was not long after Rich took up his Director’s role
that John moved from the Cotswold Community to become Head of
Residential Therapy at the Bush. His extensive experience at Cotswold,
plus his training on the MA in Therapeutic Child Care at Reading
University, placed John in an ideal position to move into that role, a
role which, as it turned out, gave him a substantial grounding in the
dynamics of leadership before his successful application for the
Directorship.
John’s own paper moves us ten years forward and
demonstrates how he experienced his own challenges on taking up the
leadership. As in Rich’s paper, there are intense vignettes of the ways
in which the children and staff experienced this renewed turmoil, and
again John draws out key themes, especially in terms of the ‘Janus’
position of leadership - looking hoth inside and out. The suffering of
individuals and groups, both symbolically and otherwise, makes for
painful reading in this paper, although it is again an authentic
representation of the seriousness of the issues facing both the
community and its leader.
The hardest challenge ultimately facing the leader is
that of succession: how to leave the community with the enterprise
intact and thriving, with the path ahead ready for the incoming leader,
but with the outgoing leader also intact and ready for their own future.
This is a task which cannot wait until the last day of a leader’s
tenure, as is demonstrated in this pair of papers. I know that John will
have this theme at the back of his mind, and I am confident that
(although it is sometimes said that there is a diminishing ‘pool’ of
potential leaders in this field) the next leader of the Bush is
somewhere even now unwittingly preparing for that responsibility.
Leadership is also topical in relation to the production
of the journal itself, as my own tour of duty as editor comes to an end
at the close of this year. We are currently seeking a replacement, and
all those interested are invited to contact either Rex Haigh or myself.
Editing the journal is a different task from leading a TC, of course,
but it does entail some similar tasks and dynamics. There are certainly
competing internal and external demands, and there are moments when the
intense personal feelings of authors and others need to be understood
and managed, although for most of the time these dynamics operate at a
much less extreme level than in the average TC. It is a rewarding
position, enthralling at times, not least in that it gives you the
regular opportunity to reflect on the key and current themes in
Therapeutic Community work. I will be glad to discuss this at further
length with those interested in the post.
Adrian Ward
Editor
References
Hinshelwood, RD. (1987) What Happens in Groups. London, Free
Association.
Ward, A., Kasinski, K., Pooley, J. and Worthington, A. (eds)
(2003) Therapeutic Communities for Children and Young People.
London, Jessica Kingsley.
